October 27th, 2009 | By Paul Cherner
The military caregiver leave provisions of the FMLA were expanded with the recent enactment of section 565 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2010, as follows:
(1) Eligible employees will be able to take Military Caregiver Leave for covered servicemembers who are veterans undergoing medical treatment, recuperation, or therapy, or who are otherwise in an outpatient status, for a serious injury or illness and who were a member of the Armed Forces (including the National Guard and Reserves) at any time during the period of 5 years preceding the date on which the veteran undergoes that medical treatment, recuperation or therapy. An eligible employee may take up to 26 weeks of leave during a single 12 month period, which commences on the date that the employee first takes such leave. [Note: Previously, such leave was only available to care for current members of the Armed Forces, Guard, or Reserves.]
(2) “Serious illness or injury” is now defined as an injury or illness that was incurred by the member or by a veteran while in the line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces or which existed before the beginning of the member’s active duty and was aggravated by service in the line of duty while on active duty in the Armed Forces and that may render that member medically unfit to perform the duties of the member’s office, grade, rank, or rating . [Note: These changes have now included veterans as well as certain preexisting conditions that were aggravated while on active duty].
(3) Qualifying Exigency Leave will now also cover members of the regular Armed Forces during their deployment to a foreign country. [Note: Prior to these amendments, Qualifying Exigency Leave was only available for covered military members in the Reserves or Guard when ordered to active duty during the deployment of the member to a foreign country.]
These changes became effective on October 27, 2009, the date the law was signed by President Obama.
Employers should review and revise their FMLA leave policies and practices to reflect these new amendments.
Note: A special nod of thanks to the FMLA blog for tipping us off about these important changes that are buried within that massive new defense authorization act.
June 9th, 2009 | By Paul Cherner
The Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) was amended last year to provide for two new forms of leave for eligible employees who have a family member on active duty in the armed forces. These amendments afford eligible employees the opportunity to take “military caregiver leave” to care for covered service members. The other form of leave provided is “qualifying exigency leave” for any qualifying event that arises from a family member being called to active duty or receiving notice of an impending call to active duty status.
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued detailed regulations implementing these two new forms of leave for employers with 50 or more employees. Employers are required to update their FMLA policies, post revised FMLA notices and provide for these two new additional forms of leave for their eligible employees. For an indepth discussion of these new forms of leaves, see this author’s article “Leave for Military Family Members – What Employers Need to Know” in this week’s online version of Crain’s Workforce Management and the December 10, 2008 post in this blog..
December 10th, 2008 | By Paul Cherner
The U.S. Department of Labor has issued new regulations (effective 1/16/09), which will require all employers subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (“FMLA”) to update their policies and forms.
Your FMLA policy must provide for Military Caregiver Leave, allowing an eligible employee to take up to 26 weeks in a 12 month period to care for a covered family service member who has suffered a serious illness or injury in the line of duty while on active duty.
Qualifying Exigency Leave may be taken by an eligible employee for up to 12 weeks when an “exigency” arises because a covered family member belonging to the National Guard or Military Reserves is on active duty or is called to active duty. The new regulations specify 8 broad categories that are regarded as exigencies.
The new regulations provide for a revised FMLA notice to be posted, as well as new forms to be used when either of these leaves or traditional FMLA is requested. The notice and forms are available on the DOL’s website.
There is also a change in the time periods involved in administering FMLA requests.
I recommend that all employers inform their managers of these changes, in addition to conducting internal training for FMLA administrators.
